Month: August 2011

In case you didn’t get get the joke of the headline, this week’s Sweet Link of the Week is all about one of my favorite games of all! The open box world of Minecraft!

For those new to this game (seriously, have you not heard about it somewhere?), Minecraft is an open box sandbox game created by Markus “Notch” Presson and his team over at independent startup Mojang Studios in Sweden! From it’s inception, Minecraft has gained more than a million unique players, won “Game of the Year” award at the Indie Awards, and was selected to be included in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s “Art of Video Games” Exhibit! All this while the game is still in it’s Beta stage of development, with a release date of November 11, 2011!

With games like Minecraft, it’s only natural that people would create mods and whole new types of gameplay! From constructable games like Spleef, and the Yog-Olympics, to whole new mods and world to be played in the game, Why don’t we show you some of the more unique and fun creations that we at aniRAGE have found!

First up, we have a mod that literally asks the question “What if there were Pokemon in Minecraft?”

Well Minecraft modder Seagoingmanatee answered that for us, and in a big way!

Because we all could use a little more “Awe” today. Expcon 2010 made me realize just how timeless a series can be. I only got to see her for a moment, but this real life chibi of Sailor Moon was too adorable not to take a pic of! Now all together now: AWWWWW!

Want to see your photo here on anirage.com? Catch us at Shadocon, November 11th-13th in Tampa, Florida!

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching the first season of The Walking Dead. Based upon Robert Kirkman’s graphic novel series of the same name, this AMC series is an excellent addition to any zombie lovers library. While I do plan on picking up the title in print, this is about the TV series, which will start it’s second season in October of this year. This review does contain some spoilers, so be careful

The series centers around Rick Grimes, a sheriff’s deputy in King County, Georgia. He is your typical everyman, who wants to help everyone, but is helpful to a fault. People flock to him because of his confidence, and he takes that responsibility hard. He always wants to do the right thing for everyone, which sometimes leads to dangerous situations. But people respect him and look to him for leadership. While Rick spent most of the start of the zombie panic in a hospital, trapped in a coma-like state due to a very damaging gunshot wound, he manages to bring himself together in time to make it to his house, and meet a man and his son. While they are initial scared of his wounds (assuming it was zombie-inflicted), he gains their trust and takes them to the sheriff’s department station for hot showers, guns, and ammunition. Despite splitting ways so that the father could teach his son how to use a gun, he gives them a walkie-talkie so that he can keep them posted on if he finds survivors, and safety. There are several scenes of him at dawn, trying to reach out to them.

There are many characters that are introduced throughout the season. Some are there for the long haul, like Rick’s wife and son, as well as his former partner from the police force, Shane. Shane is an interesting character, a conflicted hero. He lied to Rick’s wife that Rick had died, in order to get her and Rick’s son to safety. However, the two bonded over their grief and grew closer, which only hurt him more when Rick arrives at the refugee camp, and the wife basically shuns Shane from that point on. You can tell that he is happy to have his old partner and friend back, but he sees the way that the wife and everyone else flocks to him, and his jealousy quickly grows.

The rest of the refugee camp is full of colorful characters, from a racist hick whose crossbow skills end up making him an invaluable addition, to a hispanic family just trying to survive, to a mechanic whose family died, and it takes a severe toll on his mentality. There is a pair of sisters who have more survival skills than you might assume at first, a kind old man who seems very comfortable with a gun and has an RV. There’s also a family whose father is quite abusive to his wife, and potentially child…but karma has a way of giving him some hard times.

The story really is about the humanity, or lack thereof, of the refugees, and the other people you meet along the way. During an outing into Atlanta, Rick and his group runs into a group of thugs, who act tough and savage, but in reality are the only thing keeping a group of old folks alive, after they had been abandoned and left to die. The redneck who seemed to just hate everyone actually becomes an invaluable member of the group, often being one of the best in the fights against the undead, despite his personal feelings towards others. The story really draws you in to each character, and while the zombies play a big role in the story, it’s more about the people. It makes you really care about them, suffer with their loses, and cheer on their successes.

The first season was over before I knew it, and I was desperate for more. I plan on marathoning the graphic novel soon, and I look forward to the second seasons this fall. If you love zombies, you definitely need to watch this. I’m not sure what took me so long, but it’s definitely worth the watch!

It is the stuff of legends and has been talked about for centuries. From Gum Drops, to Licorice, it’s variety is as limited as the amount of sugar you can cram into it. And it’s culturally universal, too! Ever had British candy? How about Spanish Candy? More than likely, perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it! Take Japanese candy, for example! Have you ever had pocky? Not quite candy, but it can give you a taste of what it might be like! Well wonder no more! You too can have a sample of Japanese Candy thanks to the people at CandyJapan.com, they’ll send you a sample of Japanese candy to your doorstep twice a month for a reasonable subscription fee. Plus the fee includes your shipping!

Since my eyes have been able to look at objects, Optical Illusions have always fascinated me. From double images, to straight line tricks, to even after image illusions, they’ve shown me how my brain works, as well as what’s possible with the human mind in terms of creativity. Often or not, I also try to dissect how these illusions work, as well as how to try and fool them (I like to challenge myself sometimes). However, one particular illusions always seemed to be impossible for me to figure out, now matter how many times I checked out.

This one.

The basics behind this is that tiles A and B are the same color. Obviously, it’s not quite the same. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it… that is until a youtube video popped up that showed me that indeed it is real and obviously that my brain needs more work.

To be honest the last anime series that I watched was Panty and Stocking and that was a fantastic series. Afterwards I sort of went into a huge anime drought and I could get into any new anime’s like Tiger and Bunny or Madoka magica. After months of trying it seemed that I have been cured by famous anime company Mad House. Fantastic anime from the same group who did Trigun, Gungrave, and Chobits? Now you REALLY have my attention!

Redline follows the story of “Sweet” JP – A man with a retro sense of fashion, waves of fans, and tends to have spectacular crashes towards the end of his races. Paid off by the mob for all of his lost races and being on the verge of giving up his dream, he gets voted onto the next stage and gets to compete in the Redline, a vicious race that is held in Roboworld, where if you lose the race you lose more then your car… you lose your LIFE.

Redline is set to release on dvd and blu-ray in november of this year and there are a few theaters that have been showing this film. If you happen to get a chance you have GOT to see this movie. The animation is unique and it took 7 years of production to make this film. The reviews are awesome and I love how Thomas Zoth of Mania.com said “if Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was a assault on the senses.. Then Redline is a declaration of war.”

10/10 – Go See this if you can, if not add it to your collection of you want awesome anime to show off to your friends.. This movie is LITERALLY Speed Racer.. on CRACK!

Hello all you crazy Anime Fans! Miroku here, and I just got done watching one of the best Mecha/Spaghetti western series to date. The series is entitled “Gun x Sword” and was directed by Goro Taniguchi with it’s writer being Hideyuki Kurata. It’s a 26 episode series that takes place on a Wild west planet known as ‘The Endless Illusion’. The premise of the world is that, centuries ago, it was a Earth Prison planet guarded by Wardens in piloted Mecha’s called “Armors” which were each named and given a day of the week. These “Armors” were connected to their hosts and had the ability to mend themselves and their riders should they face any injury and granted decelerated aging so as to allow their riders to live centuries past their normal rate. These would, later, come to be called “the original seven”. However, we used up our resources back on earth which lead to it’s abandonment and a full migration to the “Endless Illusion”. An incident occurred along the way that left very few survivors and, soon, the “seven” and the mother ship that carried the survivors from earth to here were lost in antiquity and myth…

Hundreds of years pass… A stranger, dressed in a swallow-tail tuxedo and a strange Sash with handle, arrives at the small desert town of Evergreen. Half starved and dehydrated, he wanders into a church to seek aid, only to find himself caught in the midst of an armed robbery where a young girl tries to stand up to her attackers, but just narrowly misses being killed. Finding themselves audience, the attackers demand the stranger to come in and give them all of his valuables. He agrees, but then they demand his clothes to which he kindly declines. When they get distracted by their anger he strikes with some fancy footwork (ala spike spiegal) before gripping the handle on his sash. And, as he undoes it, a jolt of electricity goes up the sash and it stiffens to the form of a sword. The gunmen try to shoot him, but he deflects their bullets and quickly takes them out. The girl awakens to find that her life has been saved. And as she thanks him, the stranger passes out from the lack of strength and hunger. She then Thus the meeting of the series two main characters occurs. From here after, the tale follows the escapades of the “Stranger” Whose name turns out to be Van. He chooses to go by the name “Van of the Dawn” but, ends up with a WIDE variety of titles given to him throughout the series; both comedic and a little insulting to his character in most parts. The little lady is named Wendy Garrett and she joins Van in his journey as they both come to find a common quest. That quest is to hunt down the man known as “the claw” as he possesses a clawed prosthetic arm.

For Van, he seeks the man to kill him for the murder of his beloved wife, Elena, on their wedding day. For Wendy, she hunts after her brother, Michael, whom was taken by the man. Along the way, we come to find out that Van is connected to one of the legendary “Armors” known as Dann of Thursday. He’s called down from a Satellite, in orbit, quite frequently to do battle when confronted by both regular armors (created using old technology and modern workings of science) and the other Six “Originals”. Van also meets a rival named Ray whom is also seeking “the claw” and wields a Gun-cane as his weapon (most likely where the title Gun x Sword comes in… AT least in my thinking). The world has a very “Trigun” look, but with a few higher tech. luxuries (Cars, boats, Zeppelins, computers, mobil transports, etc…) Also, there are quite a few comedic jabs with the world having it’s own “Voltron force” of sorts and an Episode about a couple of love-struck crooks named “Bonnie and Claude”. The best episode for both comedy and fan service was probably Episode 17.

Anyways, it wasn’t a trip back to the planet “Gunsmoke” but, it was a fairly decent series which I find I am happy to have watched and, very much, enjoyed the ending though it may leave you a little curious as to what would happen next. All the same, I would have to say that “Gun x Sword” is a interesting series and well worth the watching if you’re into Comedy, space westerns, or Mecha. On a rating, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 stars. Well, guess it’s time for me to hit the ol’ dusty trail, myself. Keep tuned into aniRAGE.com for more insightful reviews, sweet links, and comedic adventures of our own! This is Miroku saying, “Until next we meet, keep your Tuxedo blowing in tomorrow and your face towards the future!” Bye!

While I make it a habit to watch WWE’s monthly PPV endeavors, this one holds a special place in my heart. Why is that, you ask? Well, this more or less marked the one year anniversary of my trek across Florida, and moving to Jacksonville! One year ago on the 16th (two days after the PPV), I packed up some stuff, moved in with my friend Jacob, and the very day I moved in, I went to our good friend Ashley Clark (aka Animebelle)’s house to watch my first group-PPV in a long, long. It was so fun, that we’ve done it just about twice a month for the past year! But enough of my silly reminiscing. Let’s get to the action!

Match 1: The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and R Truth vs Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, and Rey Mysterio.
R Truth is one of the greatest things happening in WWE right now. Well, his matches aren’t anything spectacular, but on the mic he is a riot! That being said, this was your standard “put multiple people into a match together to give them screen time”. Plus, Rey was hurt, so he needed screen time plus a bit of protection. All in all it was a good match, but nothing really stood out. The Faces won in the end, which I accurately predicted! 1/1

Match 2: Mark Henry vs Sheamus.
IT’S A SHAMEFUL THING….LOBSTER HEAD! Ok, with that out of the way, they seem to be turning Sheamus face, which I’m ok with. He makes a good heel, but he’s good on the mic and always seems to have a good match. But Smackdown needs some people to go after the world title, and I guess a Big Scary Monster Henry is the best thing they have at the moment. I’d have liked to see Sheamus back up his words, but with Henry having taken out Big Show, Kane, and Kozlov recently, having him lose so quickly would’ve hurt. Now we can get a fun program between these two. Winner: Mark Henry, which nobody predicted. 1/2

Match 3: Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix – Diva’s Championship.
I really don’t think anybody expected Kelly Kelly to walk out of here with the Diva’s title. Then again, it’s the Diva’s title, not the Women’s Championship, so who gives a flying fark, eh? The match was a typical diva’s match, but then again, nobody went to the bathroom. Mostly because we all wanted to see Kelly Kelly get squashed. Don’t get me wrong, she’s very hot and I gotta give her props for being from Jacksonville…but come on, Beth Phoenix. Kelly won, which nobody predicted. 1/3.

Match 4: Wade Barret vs Daniel Bryan.
Pretty much the best thing Booker T has done since coming back to WWE to be a commentator is the coining of the phrases “Fav Five” and “D-Bri”. Which I shouted constantly throughout this match. Was it a good match? You bet. Did D-Bri put on a hell of a show, and Barret keep up wonderfully? Yeah. That being said, Barret somehow won, and the only two chicks were the ones ones to predict that. Lame. 1/4.

Match 5: Randy Orton vs Christian – World Heavyweight Championship.
Everyone was pulling for Christian in this match. Don’t get me wrong, I love Orton, and the RKO is one of my favorite non-submission finishers…but the way that they have treated Christian these last few months is abysmal. I won a bonus point for calling Edge coming out, and I’m glad I specified “even if he doesn’t interact in the match, Edge’ll be there”. the match was decent, and Orton got pretty busted up…but he really needs to shave and stop smiling. Smiley bearded Orton is CREEPY. AS. FARK. Orton won, which only 2 people predicted (I don’t remember, because I wasnt’ one of them). 2/5.

Match 6: CM Punk vs John Cena – WWE World Champsionship Unification.
This was the match that everyone was looking for. Literally across the board, everyone predicted CM Punk to retain. Maybe predicted isn’t the right word…hoped/prayed/dreamed? It was a very entertaining match, and Triple Haytch didn’t make it all about himself. In fact, the only thing he really did out of the ordinary was refuse to do a double count-out, which I applaud. CM Punk won in controversial fashion, as HHH didn’t see Cena’s foot on the rope, but it was a spectacular victory. And there was no overturn, no false finish, no “oops, I made a mistake, let’s restart the match”. Nope, two men entered, one man left, with the title. 3/6.

Match 7: Alberto Del Rio cashed in Money in the Bank vs CM Punk.
And this nobody saw coming. I knew SOMETHING had to happen, as we still had about 10 minutes left on the PPV. So when Kevin Nash came through the crowd and Jackknife Powerbombed CM Punk to oblivion, we knew something was up. Triple H was like “OMG WTF BBQ?” and then ADR’s music hit. We all knew what was about to happen, and while we were sad that CM Punk didn’t have the title anymore, we knew that the RAW the next day was going to be awesome, with some great storylines opening up.

At the end of the day, we had a 4-way tie, with me, Kerby, Ashley, and Kayla all bringing in 3 points. I think that was the least amount of points that has ever won one of our “PPV Prediction Grids”, but it is what it is! At least I didn’t lose, mwua ha ha.

All in all, it was a great PPV, and shows is a great alternative to the constant disappointments from last summer. I look forward to see what the next month brings.

*puts on the Gene Shallot tie* Greetings, fellow movie goers! It’s Kirby with a movie review for everyone! For my first movie review, I wanted to pick a movie that was comedic, yet potentially ridiculous at the same time! And also something that was currently out! So the obvious choice turned out to be “30 Minutes or Less.”

The basic plot of the movie revolves around 1) Nick, a pizza delivery driver who has trouble keeping the “30 minutes or less” policy of the pizza restaurant, and 2) Dwayne, a deliquent who lives under his father’s domineering shadow. Travis hatches a plan to kill his father, requiring $100,000 to hire the assassin to do the job. And in order to attain the money, Dwayne and his friend Travis both hatch a plan to kidnap someone to do the dirty work for them. Ordering a pizza, Nick ends up getting kidnapped and has a bomb strapped to his chest, being forced to rob a bank in order to save his live, involving his friend Chet in the process.

Here’s the summary of my thoughts on Plot, Impact, Dialogue, and Overall Attitude towards the film!

Plot – 2 / 5 – The plot overall was somewhat predictable throughout most of the film, however, there were some moments (though far and few in between) that stood out, such as the bank robbery scene, and the last few moments of the movie. The plot for this movie seemed to try too hard to be a comedy movie with a plot point as dark as robbery by force.

Impact – 4 / 5 – The movie didn’t have everything going against it! The acting in the movie was superb, in my opinion. The overall emotional connection to the characters was wonderful, and the actors did give it their all for the movie! Plus points go out to Aziz Ansari (Chet) and Jesse Eisenberg (Nick) for standout performance.

Dialogue – 2 / 5 – This movie suffers from a couple of things. While the jokes are there in the movie, they are far in between. What we kinda got instead was plot exposition, filler, with jokes inserted in between. While I do understand the darkness of the movie in it of itself, comedy movies need jokes and funny dialogue. Most jokes were unfunny toilet humor and low brow comedy bits, with a few really good one-liners mixed in.

Overall Attitude – 2/5 – While the acting from all the characters in the movie was superb and wonderful, it doesn’t save it from it’s bad writing and less than stellar humor points. It seemed to be trying too much to be funny. Not to say that the movie wasn’t funny, it just wasn’t funny enough to do well. I can honestly say that I left the movie theater with a neutral outlook on the movie, and it still keeps the impression.

I know it’s been a while (*coughunderstatementcough*), but I’m back with a brand new SLOTW!

As we all know, chefs can create a plethora of imaginative food creations, from the most delicate and light dishes, do the heavy and fulfilling! I would know, I work as a chef for a living! And the limits to what a chef can do is only limited to what foods he has at his disposal, the tools on hand, and the imagination in his or her head. If this is the case, then we wonder what tools a Japanese Chef in Japan had at his disposal when he created these:

Personally, I think these are some of the most intricately detailed pieces I’ve ever seen carved out of food! You can see these and more creations here!

And speaking of delicious plants, I’ve been quite a big fan of Plants vs Zombies for quite a while now. And while it does get more and more hectic, I always did wonder what the reality and purpose of zombies eating plants would accomplish? Well apparently, the guys at Dorkly seemed to have answered that questions for me!